He shows the crowd how to hold the tree without damaging it, then
places it in a hole lining a forest path and covers the roots
with soil before pressing them down gently. Soon all of the crowd
are busy planting.

"If a tree is cut, one needs to be planted in its place. But
people who cut trees in Senegal tend not to replace them as they
lack the necessary skills," said Maimouna Seck, one young member
of the planting crew, as she wiped away beads of sweat forming on
her face.

A recent university graduate, she said she learned about the need
for reforestation in school, and had come out to "fill the void
others have created".

In Africa's Sahel, planting and protecting trees is crucial to
maintaining rainfall patterns, providing cool places for people
in a hot environment and helping curb climate change.

On the edge of Dakar, Lead Senegal, an environmental NGO, is
planting acacia trees to restore the shrinking and degraded Mbao
forest, seen as Dakar's "green lung".

Last month, 150 volunteers planted 1,000 trees in a day, on the
opening day of the initiative.

Eight-year-old Katia Elouga was one of those taking part. "It is
my first time in the forest," she said, kneeling in the soil.
"Today I learned that trees shouldn't be cut and wasted, and that
it's important to plant more."

Her mother, Christella Elouga, explained that she likes "this
sort of initiative because nature belongs to all of us".

"Nobody owns it but we all need it and benefit from it –
especially Mbao, as the 'lung of Dakar,'" she said.

URBAN EXPANSION

Planted by the government in 1908 as part of a reforestation
project to halt land erosion and replenish the soil, the forest
is listed as "classified", a status that gives it some level of
protection.

Activities such as cutting trees, or removing roots, leaves or
fruit, require government permission – although that does not
always prevent people entering the forest at night, said Moussa
Fall, a consultant for the Ministry of Environment and
Sustainable Development.

Since being planted, the forested area has shrunk to 700 hectares
today, from 815 hectares in 1940, as the government has dedicated
some areas of land to new roads and other public works projects,
Fall said.

Bad roads in the area in the early 2000s meant garbage trucks
couldn't access some villages, leading to the forest becoming "an
uncontrolled garbage dump" for waste from the area, Fall
explained.

An 11-kilometre perimeter wall built around the forest in 2004
has reduced dumping and illegal logging. But Malick Geye, a
spokesman for Lead Senegal, believes protection of the forest
must go further.

"This is the only green space the city has left. We are raising
the alarm for the population to maintain the forest, and the
government to continue to protect it, as we don't want to see
more parcels of land disappear," he said.

That is particularly important as real estate developers convince
farmers and other landowners to sell their land to build
apartment towers, turning Dakar into what he termed "a concrete
jungle".

Urban expansion is a threat to the Mbao forest, he said, and
without it being protected the capital faces worsening air
quality and other problems.

PRESERVING THE FOREST

Despite those concerns, the government in 2013 cut 35 hectares of
forest to allow a toll road to pass through the forest.

Fall, however, believes the highway has "helped create awareness"
of the forest. "Now people drive through it so they get a sense
of the size of the forest even if they have never been to it," he
said.

In addition, part of the funding for the highway – from partners
including the World Bank – has been used by the government and
NGOs to reforest 140 hectares of land in Mbao forest with over
58,000 plants of 20 different species, such as eucalyptus, cashew
and acacia.

Another of the government's strategies entails allowing local
populations to cultivate parcels of land throughout the forest,
which makes them accountable for its protection and prevents it
from becoming a dumping ground, Fall said.

He estimates that about 700 people cultivate 180 hectares of
forest land. A three-hectare vegetable plot leased to a 22-member
women's collective generated more than 12 million CFA (about
$20,000) in 2015 from sales of carrots, turnips, cabbage and
tomatoes, Fall said.